Police in the dog house after dog's witness statement hits social networks

19/02/2013

Once a practical joke was limited to a closely knit number of people, but the use of social networks like Facebook and Twitter have given the chance for people to share their shenanigans to vastly larger audiences, but sometimes sharing can lead to a pack of trouble as in case of the a West Midlands Police station that is being investigated for filing a witness statement with the name of a police dog.

According to the story, one of the K9 unit handlers received a request from the Crown Prosecution Service for a witness account from a PC Peach apparently unaware that the officer they were requesting the statement from a four-year-old Alsatian police dog that goes by the name of Peach.

The handler became exasperated with the requests - despite explanations that PC Peach was in fact PD Peaches, that he decided to complete a witness form as if it was written by the pooch and signed it with a paw print.

The statement read: ‘I chase him. I bite him. Bad man. He tasty. Good boy. Good boy Peach.’ With the addition of the age of the witness which is four and his number was PD4341.

The statement was pinned on the station wall and then photographed by another officer who then posted it on a cop humour page on Facebook which was then was picked up by Twitter.

The CPS was not happy about having been made the butt of a practical joke and have asked for an investigation into the incident.

DCI Julian Harper, from West Midlands Police, said: 'The Professional Standards Department is looking into this, early enquiries suggest it is a light-hearted exchange as a result of a misunderstanding around a police dog and a police officer. The matter will be investigated.'

The CPS declined to comment, but Ian Edwards, chairman of the West Midlands branch of the Police Federation, said: "It's a difficult time for police and sometimes humour is a way of venting frustrations. I would urge our PSD to be even-handed in the way they deal with it."

And we know what difficult times the police are facing with 20% budget cuts and a range of major reforms that include pay, working conditions, roles, private sector, and all at the same time, and maybe the CSI should lighten up because maybe getting the story smeared across the papers and internet is worse than the original practical joke.